German students start 3 -week ERP Transatlantic Program fellowship in New York

The second annual RIAS Berlin ERP fellowship for German students to the United States got off to a flying start in New York City during the first week with journalists, editors, directors, politicians, community leaders, experts and political analysts. The Germans will spend a total of three weeks in United States including two in the Midwest and Southwest and West, learning more about how Americans train to become broadcast journalists and about the political divisions in the country.

The goal of the ERP program, which was created with support from a grant from the Economy Ministry, is to expand horizons, help connect young German journalism students with their peers in the United States and help aspiring journalists in both countries learn more about journalism training in each others’ countries. The ERP program is supported by the Transatlantic Program of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is funded by the European Recovery Program (ERP) of the Federal Economy and Energy (BMWi) Ministry.

The students came to New York on March 17 from universities across the country, including 10 from eastern German universities and journalism training schools or internships. Ten of the 15 young Germans aged 22 to 30 were on their first-ever trip to the United States.

The highlight of the first week as a group together was a 45-minute meeting with New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy at his offices in Trenton. Murphy, a Democrat and former Ambassador to Germany, was re-elected to a second four-year term as governor last year leading the country’s 11th most populous state. He spoke about the state’s efforts to improve transportation systems, reduce carbon emissions, promote diversity and equality, as well as transatlantic issues and the war in Ukraine. Murphy, a former RIAS Berlin Commission honorary chair, spent 20 minutes answering some sharp questions from the German journalists from a wide range of issues, including questions such as what would he do differently about homelessness and social inequality in the USA if he were one day elected President. Murphy’s name has been

floated as a possible future presidential candidate

for the Democrats in part due to his success in winning election twice in a large swing state like New Jersey.

Other highlights included a talk at the World Trade Center memorial sight and museum with Gordon Huie, a former combat medic who only just barely survived the collapsing building by hitting the ground as it exploded behind him and then helped treat injured survivors. They also attended a church service in Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church, met NBC News producers Adam Reiss and Shirley Zilberstein on a behind-the-scenes tour of their Rockefeller Center headquarters, visited Trump tower where they talked with a group of young Donald Trump supporters from Georgia and later toured the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn — a walking tour of the Hasidic Jewish section with Frieda Vizel and then visiting the “hipster” section of Williamsburg for a talk with Hendrik Hitzel and a tour of Vice News.

The Germans visited the UN headquarters and had the chance to speak in the UN press center with media department associates Farhan Haq and Helin Argav. They also saw the Security Council and General Assembly chambers. David Gill, the German Consul General, gave a spirited talk about his work in New York on behalf of the German government, including how much joy he gets helping elderly Americans reacquire the German citizenship that was stripped from them as they fled the Third Reich in the 1930s and 1940s. Jörg Schumacher spoke about his work as director of the Goethe Institute and Broadway actress Angie Schworer talked about her musical “Some Like It Hot” right before her performance on stage just an hour later at the Shubert Theater.

ABC News senior producer DJ Cunningham, a RIAS alumni and former anchor in Arkansas, talked to the group about her work in New York scheduling political leaders and key players for the national network and how it is sometimes possible to move from journalism to politics and back to journalism. Juda Engelmeyer, a crisis communications expert, spoke at the famous Katz’s deli on the Lower East Side about his difficult work making sure media get both sides of unseemly stories — such as for one of his main clients, the disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein.  Scott Richman of the Anti-Defamation League told the group about his work fighting hate crimes in the New York area and the group went back up to Harlem to see “Amateur Night” at the Apollo Theater.

The Germans learned more about Bloomberg News and even got to briefly see former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in the broadcasting section of the newsroom at an ordinary desk. They also learned about the massive efforts going on at the Empire State Building to reduce carbon emissions on the 93-year-old building from the building’s media specialist Brock Talbot. The Germans got a look behind the scenes at one of the country’s largest utilities, ConEd, and learned how difficult it is to prevent blackouts in New York City. They also spent a fascinating afternoon the Bronx talking to Black Lives Matter co-founder Chivona Newsome and her work as a political activist as she tries to raise awareness about injustices towards Black Americans.

The 15 German students will be spending the next two weeks spread out across the Midwest, Southwest and mountain states in smaller groups of one to three, visiting American college campuses and their journalism departments in Oklahoma, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Nebraska, Arizona and Montana.

Here is a list of the German students/interns, their home universities in Germany and the USA universities where they will be spending their two-week fellowships:

Wiebke Bolle (Welt newspaper, FreeTech Academy), Southern Illinois University (SIU), Carbondale

Jackie Albrecht (University Magedeburg-Stendal), Indiana University, Bloomington

Anna Seikel (Leipzig University), Indiana University, Bloomington

Miriam Wüst (Leipzig University), Indiana University, Bloomington

Abel Fekade (Leipzig University), University of Arizona, Tucson

Malkam Goytom (Free University Berlin), University of Arizona, Tucson

Clara Hoheisel (Halle-Wittenberg), Arizona State University, Phoenix

Lea Nischelwitzer (Hagen University), Arizona State University, Phoenix

Jakob Gierth (University of Erfurt, Freetech Academy Berlin), University of Oklahoma

Til Schäbitz (University of Leipzig/Hamburg), University of Oklahoma

Szuli Wendt (Free University Berlin, RBB Berlin), University of Oklahoma

Simon Wörz (University of Munich), University of Montana, Missoula

Linda Bachmann (University of Leipzig, Regiocast radio network), University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh

Kim-Kristin Loschen (University of Bonn, Nordwestzeitung Oldenburg intern) University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh

Jana Sievers (Bielefeld University, Braunschweiger Zeitung intern), University of Nebraska, Lincoln